Device for separating cardboard or like sheets upon a conveyer



June 29, 1937.

DEVICE FOR SEPARATING CARDBOARD OR LIKE SHEETS UPON A CONVEYER Filed March ll, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I K E I'O E. BISHOP 2,085,248.

June 29, 1937. E, 5151-10 2,085,248

DEVICE FOR SEPARATING CARDBOARD OR LIKE SHEETS UPON A CONVEYER Filed March 11, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 #4 q I m Patented June 29, 1937 PATENT OFFICE sme ma SEPARATING CARDBOARD R LIKE SHEETS UPON A CONVEYER Edwin Leslie Bishop, Birmingham, England Application March 11, 1936, Serial No. 68,165 In Great Britain March 21, 1935 V 1 a 3 Claims.

, The present invention has relation to a device for separating cardboard or like sheets upon a conveyer, and is more particularlyconcerned with the feed and conveyer mechanism whereby the board is fed to an operative or working up machine, the present invention having for its object to provide an automatic eliminating or separating device whereby the boards shall be sepa- Ue rated and fed one by one to the machine should 0 they arriveon the conveyer in overlapping or stacked formation, In some instances it is expeditious to feed the board to the machine with the boards stacked one on top of another to a considerable thickness, and the present eliminating or separating device is particularly designed for separating such boardsand ensuring their conveyance one by one along'the conveyer to the machine. v f v The separating device is also adapted to deal 20 with any bent or, distorted board and ensure its ultimate accurate'passage to the machine, and is applicable to other types of conveyer such as the traveling band and reciprocating feed types. According to ,the present'invention there is pro- 25 vided in'associaticn with a conveyer, a boardseparating or eliminating device, comprising a resiliently mounted roller, deflector or like member, yieldable in a predetermined direction, said roller or like member being adapted to bear upon or co- 30 operate with a feed roller or conveyer and having associated therewith a stop member spaced from the feed roller or conveyer a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the board. In this manner when the boards arrive at the device 35 in any overlapping or stepped formation, the bottom and most prominently protruding board is immediately taken between the yieldable roller or like member and the conveyer, such yielding of the roller or like member bringing the next 40 uppermost board against the stop which holds that said board until the bottom board has been fed through, whence it. is taken between the yieldable roller or like member and the conveyer, and the operation repeated with respect to the 45 next uppermost board.

In order to deal with stacked boards arranged in more or less block formation, an inclined deflector plate used in addition to a yieldable roller may be attached to the means for supporting 50 the said roller, the lower edge of the deflector plate lying coincident with the lower edge of the stop member or thereabouts, the yieldable roller and deflector plate operating in unison. When a yieldable deflector plate is used without a roller 55 the bottom edge of such plate contactsthe feed (01. 271-41) roller in a manner similar to the yieldable roller construction, the yieldable deflector plate operating after the same manner as the roller and being directly displaced by the board in its passage through the apparatus. In association with the '5 present mechanism a rib may be formed longitudinally on one of the feed rollers, so that as the block of boards passes along the feed they are vibrated substantially simultaneously with their forward edges engaging the deflector. In this manner the boards are stepped or ofiset one from another rearwardly from the front edge of the lowermost board, the boards then being treated one by one in the manner aforesaid.

Inorder that this invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into practice, reference may be had to the appended explanatory sheet of drawings, upon which:-

, Figure 1 is an elevational view illustrating a board-separating or eliminating device constructed according to the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates the device in front elevation.

Figure 3 illustrates the device in perspective.

Figures 4, 5, and 6 illustrate more or less diagrammatically the operation of the apparatus.

Figure 7 illustrates diagrammatically a modification hereinafter referred to.

The invention will now be described as applied to a roller conveyer, from which its application to an analogous conveyer will be readily understood.

In one embodiment of the present invention the device comprises a roller a rotatably mounted upon the lower extremity of an arm a which is pivoted at a? to a suitable fixture b and extended beyond such pivot at a and provided with stop or abutment mechanism a}. Interposed between the lower part of the arm a and the lower part of the fixture bis a compression spring 0 the compression of which is advantageously of an adjustable character.

Mounted on each side of the roller a; and attached to the fixture b is an adjustable dual or two-piece stop which is spaced from the conveyer roller e of the roller system c e a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the cardboard. The floating roller a is adapted to move inwardly, that is to say, towards the machine, as indicated by the arrow I, but cannot move outwardly away from the machine in reverse direction beyond its associate conveyer roller 6 on account of the stop mechanism at the upper extremity of the arm, and/or its contact with the associate conveyer roller e.

In operation, supposing a plurality of boards 9 are moved along the conveyer e e, not necesremoval of the bottom board 9 whence the said next board 9 drops or is moved downwardly beneath the stop (1 by the return movement of the roller a and/or deflector plate h hereinafter referred to, on to the conveyer roller e andis-J taken between the floating rollera and the said conveyer roller e, and the operation repeated...

In this manner the boards are taken one by one to the machine although they arrive at the separating device in single, overlapping or casual formation, either bytheir being purposely disposed in spreadfmasses with stepped ends or by certain boards beingfedfrom an associate machine too exp, ditiously overlapping formationon to the conveyer; I

v .It is advantageous however for the feed to deal with boards g when stacked in block formation (see Figure,- 1) as obtains when stacked board is bought and normally transported. To this end an inclined deflector plateh may be adjustably attached to the arm (1 supporting the yieldable roller a, the lower edge of the deflector plate It lying coincident with the lower edge of the stopmeans (1 or 'thereabouts (see particularly Figure '3) when the roller is bearing .l pn the feed roller. In association withthis mechanism one or more of the feed rollers efe fis provided with one or more longitudinal ribs adapted to vibrate the block. of boards synchronously with their engaging. the deflector, this operation spreading the boards rearwardly so that the block is, stepped at its front, whence the lowermost board is automatically taken through the feed and the next uppermost dealt with as heretofore. v, The stops at may be adjusted vertically by the mechanism d andhorizontally by the mechanism (1 i is a further spring pressed roller mechanism for holding the board to the associate roller e and preventing its rising.

In a modification of the present invention, instead of having one yieldable roller a and a stop 11 on each side thereof, two spaced yieldable rollers may be utilized with a stop between same.

In another modification, illustrated in Figure 7, the roller a is dispensed with and the deflector plate 7' is taken to the normal point of contact with the feed roller e previously obtaining with regard to the roller a so that the deflector plate ,is displaced directly by the board after the man- 'ner'of the roller, the upper boards being arrested as hereinbefore by stops d.

I claim?- 1. A device for separating sheets of cardboard or the like upon a conveyer, comprising in combination a conveyer consisting of a plurality of rollers; a spring-controlled pivotal arm mounted upon a fixture, a roller carried by said arm adapted to co-operate with one of the rollers of the conveyer, and a fixed stop disposed above the said conveyer roller and adjacent the floatin'g roller a distance substantially equal .to the thickness ofthe cardboard'fto be treated, and an inclined deflector rigidly associated with the floating roller.

' 2., A device for separating sheets of cardboard or the like upon a conveyer, comprising in combination a fixture, an arm pivotally depending therefrom, stop mechanism at the upper part of the arm, a roller at the lower part of' the arm, I

a compression spring for controlling the movement of the arm, a stop adjustably attached to the fixture capable of vertical and horizontal v adjustment, and a deflector plate adjustably at-' tached to the arm; 1 v

3. A device for separatingsheetsof cardboard or the like upon a conveyer comprising a yieldable member adapted to swing in an arcuate path immediately abovejthe conveyer and a stationarystop member the'nose of which lies within the arcuate pathof movement of the yieldable member and is spaced a short distance above the conveyer.

' EDWIN LESLIE BISHOP, 

